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So, if some of you have felt despair at the idea that this may indicate that true democracy is impossible, fear not: it hinges on the fact that some preferences
by Iv 9y ago
So, if some of you have felt despair at the idea that this may indicate that true democracy is impossible, fear not: it hinges on the fact that some preferences can be cyclic: A wins over B who wins over C, who wins over A.
These situations are possible but rare and in such a case, it is arguable that all potential winners are legitimate.
- Judgmentality 9y agoYep, this is when you have non transitive properties. A really cool embodiment of this same concept is non transitive dice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontransitive_dice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontransitive_dice
- baddox 9y agoIndeed, a non-transitive election like that means that there is no Condorcet winner. Some voting methods (including first past the post) are guaranteed to select a Condorcet winner if one exists, but when one doesn’t exist (if A>B>C>A), various voting methods will result in various winners. I love reading about the theory behind voting methods, but one common criticism is that these edge cases are rare and thus a pure theoretical approach isn’t sufficient for getting a “desirable” (however you define that) outcome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method
- fny 9y agoArrows theorem is misleading because it only applies to rank order systems. Range voting (i.e. 0-5 rating system) satisfies all the criteria. [0] So yes, democracy is theoretically possible. [0]: https://youtu.be/e3GFG0sXIig https://youtu.be/e3GFG0sXIig
- macawfish 9y agoGood video, thanks for sharing that!